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Thursday, 6 March 2014

All Out: Uganda Update

Ugandan newspaper is terrifying lesbian, bi, gay and trans people by printing their names and photos.

Big corporations like Orange are advertising in the paper -- sign the petition asking them to pull their ads now.

‘Exposed! Uganda’s Top 200 Homos’ -- A newspaper in Uganda is now revealing the identities of gay, lesbian, bi and trans people. It’s terrifying and could lead to arrests or vigilante killings.

Here’s the thing: major global corporations like Orange are actually advertising in this newspaper. If we can get Orange to pull their adverts, that could make the editor think twice about running “gay exposés”.

If tens of thousands of us sign the petition, we can show Orange that they are suddenly in danger of becoming known as an “anti-gay” brand in more than 100 countries, if they don’t pull these adverts in just 1 country.

If the petition grows fast, the office team will talk to journalists who’ve reported about Uganda’s anti-gay law recently, and ask them to write stories about Orange’s gay hate connection. We think they’ll be interested.

Those kind of stories will ring alarm bells at the Orange PR department - it could be enough to get a quick decision to pull these ads.

Getting Orange to pull the adverts wouldn’t just send a message to the editor of the Ugandan tabloid -- it would show the Ugandan government that a major investor doesn’t approve of the anti-gay law. If more companies join in, the Ugandan government won’t be able to ignore the potential damage to their economy of their attacks on human rights.

Together, we know we can often move major global corporations to do the right thing. We got Apple to drop a gay ‘cure’ app from their online store, and helped get key national Olympic sponsors to speak out against Russia’s anti-gay law.

If we can get Orange to pull their advertising money from a newspaper profiting from hate, it could signal to the tabloid and to the government that anti-gay hate is bad for business.

Andre, Guillaume, Hayley, Jeremy, Marie, Sara, Tile and the rest of the All Out team.

PS: Imagine the feeling in the pit of your stomach if you read the headline “homos exposed” and knew your neighbours might turn on you, murder you or burn down your home in the night. No company should be advertising in such a newspaper - sign now: www.allout.org/uganda-corps

Maltese Gender Identity Law [Transgender / Intersex]

Civil Unions Parliamentary Debate and Vote

Note: The Civil Unions Bill [20/2014] has successfully passed through the Maltese Parliament with 37 votes in favour, 30 absentions and 0 votes against on the 14th April 2014. It gives the same rights and obbligations to same-sex couples as those who are registered in a civil marriage (mutatis mutandis).